Natural disasters and terrorist actions involving nuclear, biological,
and chemical agents could produce large numbers of civilian casualties
that would overwhelm existing healthcare facilities and capabilities,
jeopardizing the lives of victims and healthcare providers alike.
To address this situation, Calit2 researchers are developing
the Wireless Internet Information System for Medical Response in
Disasters (WIISARD). WIISARD is designed to be deployed at the site
of a weapons-of-mass-destruction (WMD) attack or natural disaster
to support the care of large numbers of victims for a period of
hours to days while national medical resources are being marshaled
to aid in delivery of definitive care.

WIISARD is an integrated application that will bring cutting-edge
wireless Internet technologies from the hospital to the field treatment
station to address life-threatening medical conditions. It has components
that enhance the situational awareness of first responders, facilitate
recording of medical data, aid in monitoring of severely ill patients,
and facilitate communication of data to hospitals. The prototype
system will undergo evaluation through a three-year grant period,
beginning with controlled studies of individual components and culminating
with a randomized trial conducted during a simulated WMD attack.

"Verizon is deploying QUALCOMM's high-bandwidth 1xEV-DO wireless
Internet technologies in San Diego the fall of 2003," says PI
Leslie Lenert, "which will enable our team to experiment with
technologies that will become widely available throughout the
U.S. and could be used to support disaster medical care. Calit2
has already demonstrated the usefulness of this technology by
applying it to the UCSD CyberShuttle and a cyber ambulance scenario."

WIISARD will
also serve as a living laboratory in which to study computing and
networking issues arising in the field care of disaster victims,
including the application of wireless, nomadic, geographic information
system, and self-optimizing end-to-end network-aware, real-time
technologies. The team includes academic researchers, industrial
and military partners, and frontline providers of healthcare services
in disasters, including representatives from local fire departments,
emergency medical services, and the County of San Diego Office of
Public Health.